Olympus C-5050 Review

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Olympus C-5050
3.9 stars
Average rating for this product is: 3.9 out of 5

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Big.'s Review of Olympus C-5050

11th Jul 2003

Overall Rating

3.5 stars
  • Value for money
    4.5 stars
  • Ease of Use
    2.5 stars
  • Image Quality
    3.5 stars
  • Features
    3.5 stars
Good Points

A great Price for 5. megs
It's semi easy to use with
many features
The camera works well in the underwater housing from Olympus
It takes many types of media.
It downloads to pc quickly
Everything is included in box w/camera


Bad Points

The flash consistantly washes out photos.
The focus is very poor at focusing on the subject leaving many of the photos with a slight blur.
The long delay when you depress the shutter button as to when the camera actually captures the image is it's worst flaw! Photography is about capturing a single moment in time and in the blink of an eye the moment trying to be captured can and is usually gone if there is any hesitation.
It eats batterys. I also noticed something really strange. If you use the eye to the viewfinder method of shooting the photo will not have what was seen in the frame at the top in the photo. It cuts it off. You have to use the LCD screen to compose your shot if you want everything you see to be in the shot.


General Comments

I have used this Olympus C5050 to shoot about 300 photos so far. Half of them where underwater. This is my first step up to the 5 mega pixel range. While I am impressed with the detail this camera can produce, I am still greatly disapointed with it. A few photos have come out spectacular but most are not due to camera flaws. I have to erase so many blurry shots. I have tried increasing the shutter speed. Tried different flash and f-stop settings and still I have gotten no significantly improved result. I think a lot of this is caused by the long delay after the shutter button is pressed and when it actually captures the image. For the money it is a good camera. Had I known of the flaws before buying I would have spent the extra K for a pro body and lens. I am going to try purchasing and using the hotshoe flash and see if that helps.

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Members' Comments onBig.'s Review

  • Diver Debs on 1st Aug 2004

    Being an underwater photographer myself, I understand the frustraction that all digital cameras have with the delay incurred. This makes life difficult but with practice, you learn to compensate for it. Buoyancy seems to be the main problem with the focusing mentioned, once you have mastered your buoyancy while using a camera (this does take some practice)focusing is not a problem. In fact after a weeks diving safari last week and taking over 300 photos on that trip alone, I have only found focusing problem with a handful of pictures. Using the housing underwater with all of it's functions is also very easy. Olympus have certainly worked hard on the developement of their housing and I feel have had great success.